Are the Nationals really that bad?

I'm a HUGE O's fan. They're 5-2, and tied 3-3 in the 7th inning right now with Texas. Offensively we're very solid. I love the top half of our lineup. And it will get better when Matt Weiters gets called up to replace Zaun in a few months.

The O's big problem this year will be starting rotation for sure. We're definitely an up and coming team.

I love all things DC, but I sure am glad I'm not a big Nats fan. They are woeful.

SWEET! I am an O's fan as well, but I stopped following baseball when Cal retired. My wife got me some Nat's player's autograph. I am looking at it now. Who's initials are "TR"?

SWEET! I am an O's fan as well, but I stopped following baseball when Cal retired. My wife got me some Nat's player's autograph. I am looking at it now. Who's initials are "TR"?Tim Redding maybe? He's not in DC anymore but he was the best pitcher on the team last year.

Tim Redding maybe? He's not in DC anymore but he was the best pitcher on the team last year.

That's gotta be it. There are two recognizable d's and a g at the end.

SWEET! I am an O's fan as well, but I stopped following baseball when Cal retired. My wife got me some Nat's player's autograph. I am looking at it now. Who's initials are "TR"?

I absolutely love baseball. It was always my favorite sport growing up (with football a close second of course), but I was just a lousy hitter, so my playing days didn't last past my freshman year of high school (come to find out I needed glasses/contacts pretty badly).

It's been pretty miserable being an Orioles fan for the past decade or so, but now that Peter Angelos has finally let someone else call the shots (Andy MacPhail), things are looking up in Baltimore. I cheer for the Nats to do well, but even though they are my hometown's team, I can't just jump ship on my Birds.

I'm a HUGE O's fan. They're 5-2, and tied 3-3 in the 7th inning right now with Texas. Offensively we're very solid. I love the top half of our lineup. And it will get better when Matt Weiters gets called up to replace Zaun in a few months.

The O's big problem this year will be starting rotation for sure. We're definitely an up and coming team...

I absolutely love baseball. It was always my favorite sport growing up (with football a close second of course), but I was just a lousy hitter, so my playing days didn't last past my freshman year of high school (come to find out I needed glasses/contacts pretty badly).
Unfortunately for Wieters, a shaky pitching staff means Zaun will be around most of the year, especially if the O's stay in contention.

Considering that their top 2 pitchers are Guthrie (Career W-L record of 19-17) and 34 year old "rookie" Uehara, the O's need to beef up their pitching staff big time. Outcasts Hendrickson and Eaton make up the rest of the staff, with Alfredo Simon getting hurt last night. The bullpen should be decent, especially if Chris Ray can be the go-to guy in the 8th.

I played baseball into my junior year in high school, when being big and slow finally caught up to me. I was a decent pitcher (no starts in HS, but got a few saves), but the thing that kept me around longer than I should have been was being a catcher. If you have kids who love playing baseball, and want to stick with it longer than little league, tell them to get behind the plate. Especially if they have a good arm...

Lastings, the bum, was sent down to AAA. :D

Dukes is better anyways and should be starting over Milledge.




But yeah, they're THAT bad. Other than a core of a few players like Zimmerman, Dukes, Dunn...they're not much better than some teams' AAA teams. They have NO pitching.

They could challenge the O's 0-21 start!


The Orioles always seem to start out seasons hot, then fade after a month or two. It's still great to see Boston in the basement at 2-5! :) :) :)

I see the Nats pitching situation as terminally bad. They don't really have many good young arms in the minors. By the time they build back up the farm system, all the good bats will be gone and they will be back to square one.

Unfortunately for Wieters, a shaky pitching staff means Zaun will be around most of the year, especially if the O's stay in contention.

Considering that their top 2 pitchers are Guthrie (Career W-L record of 19-17) and 34 year old "rookie" Uehara, the O's need to beef up their pitching staff big time. Outcasts Hendrickson and Eaton make up the rest of the staff, with Alfredo Simon getting hurt last night. The bullpen should be decent, especially if Chris Ray can be the go-to guy in the 8th.



Hey, Rich Hill is coming soon...OK, never mind. :D

Ray looked bad in his first couple of starts but I think it was just something mechanical he had to work out. Looked great last 2 outings and he will be closing before the end of May I predict.

I see the Nats pitching situation as terminally bad. They don't really have many good young arms in the minors. By the time they build back up the farm system, all the good bats will be gone and they will be back to square one.

Bats can be had. Pitching has to be developed. If they ever put together a decent staff via development then they'll be fine. That's at least 4 yeard down the road. From what I can tell JB was fine at piecing together a moderately talented roster via castaways and journeymen but he didn't do much to build up the farm system pitching-wise to make any sustainable gains in productivity.

It's like they should have made him just in charge of the major league team and then hired someone else to GM the organization. Letting him put/keep his fingerprints on the whole deal was a mistake.

I see the Nats pitching situation as terminally bad. They don't really have many good young arms in the minors. By the time they build back up the farm system, all the good bats will be gone and they will be back to square one.
That's not entirely true. There is Collin Balester, Jordan Zimmermann, Garrett Mock, Ross Detwiler, Michael O'Connor among several others. The problem is rushing them to the show too quickly. The farm system actually is much better today then when Jim Bowden took over.